Psychobabble Book Review

Introduction

In Psychobabble Richard Ganz characterizes modern psychology as ‘psychobabble.’ Dr. Ganz is a Jewish Christian who, prior to his conversion to Christ, earned his Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He served in the Clinical Faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York and taught at the university there. After he gave his life to Christ, he was fired from his position, because he could not separate his faith from his practice. He earned a Master of Divinity at Westminister Theological Seminary and worked with Dr. Jay Adams at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation.. He has since lectured at major secular universities including Harvard. He is the Senior Pastor of the Ottawa Reformed Presbyterian Church, and the Founder and President of Ottawa Theological Hall, where he is also Professor of Biblical Psychology and Counseling. His other books include: Take Charge of Your Life Before It Takes Charge of You, Twenty Controversies That Almost Killed a Church, The Secret of Self Control, Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Christian case Against Abortion and Free Indeed: Escaping Bondage and Brokenness for Freedom in Christ. Psychobabble develops the biblical counseling theme that pastoral care has been abdicated to secular psychology and the dangers of integrating worldly theories into biblical soul care.

Content

Dr. Ganz states that his goal is to “help readers understand that the counseling concepts woven into psychoanalysis (and its secular psychotherapeutic offshoots) are inherently opposed to the Word of God.” He sets out to, “reveal the direct conflict,” between the two and, “strip back to its ug...

... middle of paper ...

...t the church will stop shuffling her hurting and broken members to the “experts” who lack the power and perspective of the Word of God, that pastors will instead seize the opportunities to teach, rebuke, correct, and train in righteousness a people fit for service to King Jesus” (27). Unfortunately, in the twenty years since the book was published the church has a long way to go before realizing Dr. Gantz’s hope.

Conclusion

Psychobabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology and the Biblical Alternative by Dr. Richard Gantz is an excellent book for anyone interested in pursuing a ministry in biblical counseling. It is indispensable for understanding the conflict between Biblical counseling and the theories of man. Dr. Gantz’s book can be a very important tool to returning to God’s view of man in counseling and rejecting man’s self-aggrandizing coddling views.